The Shadow Game #3

Please be aware that this is a review for the third book in a series. There will be no spoilers for this book, but there might be ones for the previous ones. You can see my reviews for the first two books by clicking on their titles below.

Ace of Shades

King of Fools

Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody

Publication Date: September 1, 2020

Summary from GoodReads:

Return to the City of Sin, where the final game is about to begin…and winning will demand the ultimate sacrifice.

Only days after a corrupt election and brutal street war, one last bloodthirsty game has begun. The players? The twenty-two most powerful, notorious people in New Reynes.

After realizing they have no choice but to play, Enne Scordata and Levi Glaisyer are desperate to forge new alliances and bargain for their safety. But while Levi offers false smiles and an even falser peace to the city’s politicians, Enne must face a world where her true Mizer identity has been revealed…and any misstep could turn deadly.

Meanwhile, a far more dangerous opponent has appeared on the board, one plucked right from the most gruesome legends of New Reynes. As the game takes its final, vicious turn, Levi and Enne must decide once and for all whether to be partners or enemies.

Because in a game for survival, there are only losers…

And monsters.

ARC provided by Inkyard Press via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

I was really happy that I took the time to reread the first two books in the series before tackling this one. The plot and the characters that weave the whole series together is so twisty and complex that I would have been totally lost in this book’s plot. Even so, there were a few times where I did get just as lost and confused as the characters because of some twist that I didn’t see coming.

The author added more points of view in this book to a total of five. We still have Enne and Levi’s views but three more minor characters from the first two books join them to help tell the story. Before I get to them though, I want to talk about Enne and Levi. Their relationship gets even more complex in this story and there were quite a few times that I wanted to shake them both and lock them in a room until they figured it all out. I was worried through out that what I hoped for them and their relationship just wasn’t meant to be. I still loved the two of them together though and their ending was only a little disappointing.

Lola is one of our new pov’s and I was so glad to see some of the story from her point of view. She was always one of my favorite secondary characters so seeing things from her side was wonderful. Her story was not an easy one to read though, she goes through a lot of heartbreak and turmoil to get where she does by the end.

Sophie also gets a voice, which I was happy with but at times I felt that her’s wasn’t that necessary. She spends a lot of time grieving for Jac and coming to terms with who she is, but her role wasn’t that clear until the end.

And then we have Harvey. You remember Harvey don’t you? No? Well, he is Bryce’s second and while you will probably remember Bryce from the end of book two, Harvey was never that important in either of the other two books. But I loved his point of view and how his character developed over the course of the book.

I don’t want to say much about the plot, because you really need to go in blind here. The game that they play in this book is way more complicated than the Shadow Game in book one, with lots of moving parts. Things move a bit slower in this one as well, I do think the multiple points of view slowed things down a bit. But the story is just as twisty and complex as the previous two books. The world building continues as well, with more about the Legends and how the blood magic works being explained and manipulated in this story.

If you have not started this series then please go out and get your hands on it. You will not be disappointed. It is one I will probably read again as I am sure there are things I missed in this complex and twisty world.